270 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[July 31. 
another, that the hives or boxes should be of the same 
size. 
Dressing Hives ,—It would be well if this practice was 
discontinued altogether, for when done in the most judicious 
manner, the bees are greatly annoyed by it; a clean, dry hive 
is more pleasing to them than one besmeared with ale, 
honey, fennel, and all the other good things used by good 
dames of old. Within the last week I heard of one having 
been washed, or smeared with cream and sugar, and in so 
profuse a manner, that the bees which had to travel an hour 
by rail were found at the end of their journey to be com¬ 
pletely saturated with it, a large portion of them dead, 
and the remainder in such a state as to render it necessary 
to kill them the next day, to the great vexation and disap¬ 
pointment of the gentleman to whom they were sent, who 
has been impatiently waiting their arrival for some weeks. 
Cream I should imagine to be the most disagreeable thing 
that could be thought of for this purpose, except it should 
be oil , which is well known to kill a bee, or almost any 
insect the instant it touches it, and this cream I believe was 
some of the far-famed Devonshire, which in its rich and 
buttery nature approaches very closely, indeed, to oil. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE HEN-YARD. 
AUGUST. 
On the choice of Cochin-China Fowls. 
The beautiful variety of poultry at the present time so 
much admired and sought after under the name of Cochin- 
China fowls is, from all I can ascertain, chiefly brought 
from a place much farther north than that country; all the 
imported birds which I have met with having arrived in 
ships from Shanghai. Even these are not invariably true to 
the sort, some of them bearing signs of a mixture of the 
Malay blood, which is perceptible from the greater length of 
leg and neck, and the small size of the comb; these are, 
nevertheless, fine sized birds, and are often feathered down 
the legs. 
I will, to the best of my ability, describe what experience 
has led me to consider the most important points by which 
an amateur may choose the true-bred Cochin-China fowls. 
In wilting this description, I take the portraits of some 
English-bred birds which I obtained, after much search and 
hesitation, among all the fine stocksjwhich I could hear of; 
and, also, of a splendid bird (now in my possession) impor¬ 
ted from her own country; nor have I confined my pen 
entirely to my own stock in giving this description (which it 
is my wisli to render plain to all) ; but have also regarded 
the opinion of those who possess the choicest collections, as 
well as that of those whose voices have decided the prizes 
at the poultry exhibitions. Size is quite a first consideration; 
the bodies are large, plump, and square built, with a pecu¬ 
liarity in the wing, which I cannot better describe than in 
the words of Mr. Richardson: “the wing,” says this intelli¬ 
gent author, “ is jointed in such a manner, that the posterior 
half can be doubled up and brought between the anterior half 
and the body;” this makes the wing look very small, com¬ 
pletely conceals the pen feathers, and gives something very 
peculiar to the general appearance of the fowl. 
The plumage is bright in colour, and very soft to the 
touch. Buff, yellow, cinnamon, and grouse, are the colours 
which prevail; among these, the light colours, buff and 
yellow, are, I think, most admired at the present time. 
The feathers are peculiarly soft to the touch, and extra¬ 
ordinarily long and downy about the thighs, which stand 
out and give a great appearance of width to the fowl 
when seen from behind. The head is neatly formed, with 
short bill, red cheeks, and single, serrated comb; the comb 
rather large in the cocks, medium size in the hens. Wattles 
rather large, and double in the cocks, small in the hens. A 
full, pearly eye, and no top-knot. The legs yellow, tinged 
with red, stout made, and not too long, with a stripe of 
feathers down one side. Their eggs are of a medium size 
and delicate flavor, with shells of a pale chocolate colour. 
The tail in both cock and hen is remarkably small. I had 
almost forgotten to mention the crow of the male bird, 
which is a long melancholy groan of so peculiar a sound, 
that I have by it even found out their locality. 
They should not, on any account, have a fifth toe, although 
I am informed by quite the first dealer in London, that this 
will sometimes appear from repeated breeding-in, without 
any mixture of the Dorking fowl. I have never, however, 
seen an instance of its appearance, in which the chickens 
were not fully entitled to the distinction by right of in¬ 
heritance. The feathering on the legs to which I have 
above alluded is, I think, a great beauty, but I do not find 
that it is considered imperative by the most experienced 
connoisseurs; for even where it is distinct in both cock and 
hen, it will yet occasionally be absent in some of the chickens. 
It is objected to by some, who consider that the damp 
which adheres to the tufts of feather about the feet may 
injure the fowl in our cold climate, and by these persons the 
clean legged birds are preferred. 
The yomig chickens grow fast, and, like all high-bred 
fowls, fledge very slowly. At six weeks old, they have often 
not feathers enough to enable them to fly to a place one- 
foot-and-a half from the ground without great difficulty. 
At between two and three months they look like little 
ostriches, for the very few feathers which there are in the 
tail curl downward. 
On commencing this chapter, I had proposed to write on 
the “choice and management of the Cochin-China fowls;” 
but space will oblige me to confine myself to the first of 
these subjects, especially as a correspondent of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener has proposed some questions of general 
interest, which I have much pleasure in answering. He 
wishes to know whether it is better to purchase Cochin- 
China fowl’s eggs, or the chickens. Now that the season is 
far advanced, I should say chickens, most decidedly; for, 
although I have seen handsome birds which were hatched 
even as late as October, I do not think these ever become 
so large as those from spring broods. All the persons I 
know who have the finest Cochin-China fowls, are most 
unwilling, or refuse to part with eggs, on account of the 
mismanagement and subsequent complaints of the pur¬ 
chasers. At the same time, I see no reason why, at an 
earlier period of the year, success should not attend the 
purchase of eggs, provided the purchaser can see the fowls 
which laid them, and be assured that they are genuine. 
Eggs are certainly subject to injury from travelling, but I 
know, by experience, that this evil may be guarded against 
by careful packing. In rather recommending the purchase 
of eggs, however, I fear I speak more from conviction than 
from experience, for I have seldom been fortunate with 
bought eggs. Their price I find to vary from twelve to 
thirty shillings the sitting. 
The price of fowls, when fine and the true bred, I have 
found to be two pounds and thirty shillings respectively, for 
well-grown cock birds and pullets. On seeing Cochin-China 
fowls advertised for much less, I have often taken the 
trouble to apply, but have in these cases invariably found 
either half-bred or small birds; I do not know whether this 
is generally the case, or whether 1 am less fortunate than 
my neighbours in realizing bargains. The price of chickens 
is, of course, much lower than the sum which I have named 
as usually charged for grown cock birds and pidlets, but 
these I have never, at present, bought, as when, after my 
repeated disappointments, I tried in desperation to see all 
the finest I could hear of, I only sought those which had 
already reached maturity. 
I omitted to remark, in its proper place, that the colour of 
the eggs must not be implicitly relied on, as half-bred 
fowls will sometimes lay eggs very similar in look to those 
of the real Cochin-China fowls. Anster Bonn. 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 
“ We wish some of our ingenious (I could wish this word 
ingenious more applicable to myself) amateurs would take 
up such matters, and faithfully report on them.” Thus Mr. 
Errington expresses himself in his article on the fruit- 
garden, relative to strawberry culture in The Cottage 
Gardener of July 3rd. 
Now, I consider myself one of your peculiar people, a 
cottage-gardener in the true and literal sense of the word; 
and if anything new or useful can be derived from my 
practice in strawberry culture, as I here detail it, tho 
presumption of my mite as a contribution to your ever- 
